Джанет Кантрелл - Fat Cat Takes The Cake

“That doesn’t seem too awful. I would have made copies.”

Chase could have kissed her if they hadn’t been on the phone. Even through her cell phone, though, she could hear the shakiness in Anna’s voice and could imagine the concern in her bright blue eyes.

After she hung up, she felt like she was jumping out of her prickly skin. She couldn’t stay this way until Julie’s hearing. She gazed out at the roads. A snowplow rumbled by, scooping the snow to one side and half burying any hapless cars parked at the curbs. She felt like she had to move, had to get out of her apartment. It was so odd to have the shop closed on a Saturday afternoon. If the weather were better, she would take Quincy out for some leash training. He wouldn’t appreciate getting his paws soaked, though. She decided instead to take herself for a walk to try to calm her nerves.

She had everything on—boots, scarf, coat, her old gloves—had gone down the stairs, and was opening the door when her cell phone rang. She stepped back inside to answer it.

“Is everything all right over there?” Mike asked.

“Yes. We closed the shop because I was afraid no one could get home if we stayed open until six.”

“You have power? I lost mine at the clinic.”

She poked her head into the kitchen. The clock lights glowed on the stove and microwave, one showing four thirty-five, the other showing four thirty-eight. She and Anna never managed to get all the clocks in sync. “We’re okay here.”

“Can I bring some things over? My power has been out all day and I need to keep the insulin refrigerated overnight. My neighbor says power is out at the condo, too. I’m boarding two diabetic cats at the clinic this weekend. It’s not supposed to get extremely cold, so I think the cats will be all right. The insulin will be okay for a short time, but I don’t want it to get too warm or too cold. I loaned my generator to a friend for the weekend. Bad timing.”

“Sure.” She knew those tiny vials wouldn’t take up much room. “When are you coming?”

“I’ve canceled everyone but the next appointment, so in about an hour?”

That would be plenty of time for a brisk walk to clear her head of her dark fears for Julie. She would tell Mike about her arrest when he got here. With a smile on her face at the thought of being comforted by Mike, she shuffled her boots through the parking lot to the cleared street. The snow had slowed to a light dusting that collected on her shoulders.

She had gone only a few blocks when her cell rang again. It was Eddie.

“Hey, it’s a beautiful day,” he said, his voice a little too loud in her ear.

“For sled dogs. Did you lose power?”

“Heck no. I’m in a strip mall. They’re not gonna lose power. Speaking of power, wanna go on a power walk with me? I like to walk whenever I can. The gym’s fine for bad weather, but there’s nothing like fresh air.”

Power walking with Eddie was about the last thing on earth she wanted to do. She thought quickly. “I’d like that, but—”

“I’ll be right over.”

“No, I can’t. Eddie?” He was gone. She had planned to say she would like to, but she couldn’t. Because, well, maybe because she had just gone for a walk.

She tried to call Eddie back, but he didn’t answer. Great. Just great. She’d have to get rid of him before Mike came over. She had thought the last thing she wanted to do was go on a power walk with Eddie, but now she’d changed her mind. The last thing she wanted to do was to have both Mike and Eddie in the same spot at the same time.

SEVENTEEN

She hurried toward home, hoping she could intercept Eddie and send him on his way quickly. He was too fast for her. His bright yellow Smart car was idling outside the door, the exhaust plumes swirling in a mad dance with the lazy snowflakes. For a moment she contemplated turning around and disappearing until he left. As she was formulating the thought, the car door opened. He’d spotted her.

“Hey, Chase! You started without me?”

She waded through the deep accumulation as fast as she could, out of breath by the time she got to him. “I tried to tell you,” she said between pants. “I’ve already walked today. You hung up too quick.”

“Aw, gee, that’s too bad. Why don’t we go over to my shop for a drink?”

She suppressed a shudder at the vision of a glass of green, viscous goo. “I can’t. Really. I have too much to do.”

“No problem. I’ll call earlier in the day next time. You gonna be open tomorrow? Maybe we could meet up then.”

“We should be open. The roads are being plowed and the snow is stopping.”

“I gotta be getting back anyway. It’s been busy today.”

With all this snow? Maybe his roads had been plowed earlier than hers. She breathed out a sigh of relief as he ducked to tuck himself into his tiny car. Then he straightened up.

“I forgot. I was gonna tell you that Monique Byrd came into the shop today. That woman is crazy.”

“How so?” She talked a lot and stuck with Dickie, which made her halfway crazy already as far as Chase was concerned.

“She has a weird thing about not touching people. She won’t let anyone touch her skin.”

Chase remembered that from high school, but it had seemed worse the few times she’d seen her lately. “She has a germ phobia.”

“And that means she’s crazy in my book. Normal people don’t mind touching each other.”

He put his ungloved hand on her cheek. Startled, Chase pulled away. The gesture seemed too intimate. She did get giddy in his presence, but there was all that emphasis on health food and he didn’t seem to like Quincy very much.

“Different people have different obsessions,” she said. Some are obsessed with quinoa sprouts . “Look, I have to get going.” She resisted glancing at the time on her phone.

“Sure.” He shrugged and got into his car again. “See you around.”

Was that a brush-off? After his car disappeared, she lifted her hand and felt her cheek, tingling and warm where his hand had been.

She was still standing with her ratty glove to her face when Mike’s extended-cab pickup came around the corner. He pulled up to where she was standing—after she had whipped her hand down to her side.

“Are you waiting out here to meet me?” His grin, with his raised eyebrows, was curious.

“I’m returning from a walk.”

“In this weather?”

“What can I say? I love shuffling through the snow.”

He got out of the truck holding a plastic bag. “You love shuffling through leaves, too. Is it shuffling you like? You’ll make a great old person.”

She had to laugh. “Do you know anything about your power?”

“The phone message says there’s a major failure in the western suburbs that includes the Minnetonka Mills area. They didn’t promise it will be on any sooner than tomorrow when I called the recording. The condo might get power earlier. They’re not saying. It’s so close to here, you’re lucky yours didn’t go out.”

Chase led the way inside. She paused halfway across the kitchen floor when she heard voices out front. No one should be there now. The shop was closed and everyone had left.

“I thought you had closed,” Mike said, echoing her thoughts.

She held a finger to her lips to shush him so she could listen before she went out there.

“I could get you disqualified, you know.” That was Grace Pilsen, she was sure, her voice dripping with vitriol. How did she get inside the Bar None? “You’ll get thrown out of the Minny Batter Battle.”

“You just now said this isn’t the recipe you’re using.” Anna was here! And she was angry.

Chase motioned for Mike to follow. He stuck his bag into the fridge first. Together, they pushed through the swinging doors.